Lee Gatiss delivers the inaugural lecture of the John Owen Society at the University Church in Oxford.

On Monday 25th January, the John Owen Society filled in the Old Clore Library in Oxford to celebrate the fact that this year sees the 400th birthday of the great puritan theologian, John Owen (1616-1683), former Dean of Christ Church and Vice Chancellor of Oxford University.

Lee Gatiss, whose Cambridge PhD was on Owen’s biblical interpretation, spoke to the title “The English Calvin? The Life and Legacy of John Owen.” He outlined Owen’s life and ministry as a Christian statesman, a fine scholar, a thoroughgoing Protestant, a solidly Reformed theologian, and a prodigious Bible commentator (that’s 5 points), concluding that Owen was “certainly one of the most significant and prolific theologians that England has ever produced.”

The event saw the start of the John Owen Society in Oxford, which hopes to recover Reformed theology for the 21st Century. The first few minutes introduce the vision of the Society, and the speaker. The lecture is a little under an hour, followed then by time for questions (in which Lee refers to some of the music available in our shop).

Click on the picture above to listen.

Sophia Akouo is an ordinary Anglican churchgoer who enjoys listening to good talks.